Maritsa Vladimirovna (c1085-1146)
}} Maritsa (Maria) Vladimirovna (died January 20, 1146 ) is a Russian princess, the daughter of Vladimir Monomakh, the wife of a pretender to the Byzantine throne of the Pseudo-Leo Diogenes II. Maritsa was married by her father, Vladimir Monomakh to a man who, at the beginning of the 12th century in Rus', pretended to be Leo Diogenes, the son of the Byzantine emperor Romanos Diogenes, deceased in 1087 in battle with the Pechenegs. Russian chronicles refer to him as the prince "Leon Devgenich." The Grand Princes of Kiev, Vladimir Monomakh, recognized Pseudo-Leo Diogenes II as the real imperial son and decided to support his claims, if not to the Byzantine throne, then to a number of Byzantine cities on the Danube, where he intended to create a state-dependent Kiev state school under the nominal leadership of Pseudo-Leo Diogenes II. V.N. Tatischev reports that Maritsa's marriage to "Prince Leon" took place on July 20, 1104. But his information should be treated with caution: obviously, he reconstructed the events in accordance with his own ideas about how things could develop. He mistakenly called Leon the son of Emperor Alexios, and the marriage, in his opinion, was concluded in Constantinople . Vladimir Monomonakh selected the city of Voin, part of the Principality of Pereyaslavl for his daughter and her husband. During the excavations at the site of this city, a breast cross was found with an inscription in Greek: "Lord, help your servant Leon." It is assumed that it could have belonged to Pseudo-Leo Diogenes II. . In 1116, Vladimir Monomonakh, under the pretext of the return of the throne to the "legitimate" tsarevich, undertook a campaign against Byzantium. With Vladimir Monomonakh's support, Pseudo-Leo Diogenes II succeeded in occupying many of the Danube cities, including Dorostol, which apparently became Pseudo-Leo Diogenes II's temporary residence. However, he could not establish himself as "prince" of the Danube region: on August 15, the same year, 1116, Pseudo-Leo Diogenes II was killed in Dorostol by two hired assassins sent to him by Emperor Alexios Maritsa and Pseudo-Leo Diogenes II had a son, Vasilko Leonovich (he also was called Vasilko Marichinich / Maricic - in honor of his mother), apparently named after Vladimir Monomonakh, whose Christian name was Vasili. After Pseudo-Leo Diogenes II's death , the Grand Prince of Kiev did not stop the war on the Danube, acting now in the interests of "Prince Vasily". In the same year 1116 he installed his governors in the cities conquered by the Pseudo-Leo Diogenes II. Emperor Alexios, however, managed to squeeze out Russian detachments from the Danube and win back Dorostol. A peace with Byzantium was established only after the death of Emperor Alexios and the accession to the throne of his son Ioannes II Komnenos. Ome of Vladimir Monomonakh's granddaughters was married to Emperor Ioannes II Komnenos's son Alexios . Vasilko Leonovich, the son of Maritsa and Pseudo-Leo Diogenes II was killed in the Battle of the Supoty River near Pereyaslavl, one of the feuds of Russian princes, fighting on the side of Vladimir Monomonakh's son Yaropolk with Vsevolod Olgovich, Prince of Chernigov. Maritza herself, apparently, lived in a monastery in Kiev and died in 1146. Notes Literature Gorsky A. A. Russian-Byzantine relations under Vladimir Monomakh and Russian annals // Historical Notes. - T. 115. - M. , 1987. - P. 308-328. Morozova L. Ye. The great and unknown women of Ancient Rus. - M .: AST, 2009. Complete collection of Russian chronicles. Т. 1: The Laurentian Chronicle. - M. , 1997. T. 2: Ipatiev Chronicle. - M. , 1998. Putsko VG Greek inscription from Warrior // Numismatics and epigraphy. - T. 11. - M. , 1974. - P. 209-214. Tatischev VN History Russian. Part 2 / / Collected. op. - T. 2. - M. , 1995. Category:Married in 1104